photo by: Mike Yoder

The Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 E. 25th St., is pictured in this file photo from 2015.

After a petition led by downtown business owners called for local governments to work to increase capacity at the local homeless shelter, shelter representatives told city leaders that doing so would take more money and more staffing.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission took several actions related to homelessness: approving the second half of the Lawrence Community Shelter’s yearly funding allocation; suspending certain city code and safety regulations so the city can operate a temporary, cold-weather shelter at a city recreation center; and receiving an update on the city-run campsite for those experiencing homelessness.

Commissioner Brad Finkeldei asked city staff whether there were any updates on the capacity at the Community Shelter and what the city could do to help increase it. Housing Initiatives Manager Danelle Walters responded that the city is continuously in talks with the shelter, and continues to work with Douglas County to make sure agreements going forward have the same expectations and metrics.

“All I can say is that that’s an ongoing conversation,” Walters said. “Hopefully we will have more information soon on that.”

The commission also heard from members of the public, including Tim Olson, who said he’s been living outside and has never been to the Community Shelter. After close to four years of being homeless, he said he was in the last steps of getting into an apartment. However, he said he moved to the front of the line because of his age, and he urged the city to provide more money to expand capacity at the shelter and provide more support to those living outside.

“I’m considering it an advantage to be old,” Olson said. “It is, in this case, but what about the people who are young out there that I care about and who need housing just as bad?”

Melanie Valdez, interim executive director of the Lawrence Community Shelter, told city commissioners that in addition to meeting with them, she has been meeting with county commissioners, several community partners and other community members. Regarding the shelter’s capacity, Valdez said that the shelter has tried to communicate in those conversations that the shelter needs more funding and public support.

“One of the continued narratives that we’ve tried to communicate is that to meet the needs of the community, that we do need more funding,” Valdez said. “And we realize that that funding should not fall on any one place, but as a nonprofit agency that provides services to those experiencing homelessness, you know there’s not any money to be made, and we really rely on public support.”

The shelter has the capacity to house 125 people generally and 140 during cold weather. As the Journal-World has reported, the Community Shelter reduced the number of beds it provides from 125 to 65 in August 2019, initially due to budget issues, and has continued to operate at a lower capacity due to staffing issues as well its recent “housing first” approach that focuses on quickly housing people. The shelter’s website states it is currently serving up to 50 individuals and two families.

Valdez said total payroll for the shelter is under $1 million annually, and that currently the shelter is not able to offer its staff a living wage and consequently struggles to retain staff. She said that her employees are scared of being forced to serve two to three times as many people at the shelter with the services they currently have to offer. She said she appreciates that the community seems to understand that homelessness is a complex issue, and that the shelter wanted to seek solutions.

“And no matter what our interests are, what our perspective is, whether it’s a business or a nonprofit, we all want to see the solution,” Valdez said.

The funding approved for the Community Shelter as part of Tuesday’s meeting was the second half of the city’s annual allocation of $290,000. The county also provides annual funding to support the shelter. The city-run temporary, cold-weather shelter, which will provide 75 beds from Dec. 1 through March 12 at the Community Building, has an estimated cost of $50,000, according to a city memo. The city is also operating a campsite in North Lawrence at a cost of $78,500.

Homeless Programs Coordinator Jenn Wolsey said the campsite, which began with 48 tents that can each accommodate one or two people, has since expanded to 78 tents and currently has 77 individuals living there. Wolsey told commissioners that between 150 and 170 people are currently living unsheltered outside. Wolsey noted that the North Lawrence campsite is temporary and cannot accommodate the city’s shower and bathroom trailers, and that the city still plans to open a long-term campsite that can house the trailers in another location in March.

Commissioner Amber Sellers said there was still a lot of navigating to do, and she cautioned the city against hastening to try to increase capacity at the Community Shelter if the shelter doesn’t have the ability or funding to handle it. Finkeldei said he continues to support using the city’s housing initiatives dollars, both the money left in 2022 and in 2023, to increase capacity at the shelter, acknowledging that it was not as easy as just handing over money.

“That’s why I asked the question earlier about how are those conversations going, because I know it’s not just a ‘write a check and it’s over,'” Finkeldei said.

Commissioner Bart Littlejohn said he agreed with both Sellers’ and Finkeldei’s points, and that he was encouraged by the engagement from the community and their desire to see a solution. He said he hoped one would come soon, and he agreed with statements from Community Shelter representatives that it would take more support.

“It’s going to take dollars and it’s going to take resources and it’s going to take staff,” Littlejohn said.